MAS Partners Financial Industry to Expand Asset Tokenisation Initiatives

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has released a press statement to announce its collaboration with the financial industry to expand asset tokenization initiatives under Project Guardian. These initiatives aim to develop foundational capabilities for scaling tokenized markets, fostering institutional adoption of digital assets to enhance liquidity, unlock investment opportunities, and improve the efficiency of financial markets.
Specifically, under Project Guardian, a consortium of 17 financial institutions has initiated five industry pilots to explore various asset tokenization use cases. These pilots range from the exploration of „institutional-grade mechanisms“ for digital asset trades, to the implementation of cross-border FX payment solutions, to the issuance of tokenized money market fund shares.
Additionally, MAS is now launching a dedicated „funds workstream“ within Project Guardian to focus on „the native issuance of Variable Capital Company (VCC) funds on digital asset networks“. In this context, MAS will closely collaborate with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority to better assess the opportunities and risks involved when adopting digitally native VCC fund shares.
Furthermore, MAS informs that it is partnering with global policymakers and financial institutions like BNY Mellon, DBS, JP Morgan, and others to investigate the development of an open, digital infrastructure designed to accommodate tokenized financial assets and applications (an initiative known as „Global Layer One (GL1)“). The purpose is to streamline cross-border transactions and allowing trading of tokenized assets across worldwide liquidity pools, thereby adhering to pertinent regulatory requirements and guidelines.
Finally, MAS announces the launch of a second initiative in this context, namely the development of an Interlinked Network Model aimed to establish a common framework for exchanging digital assets across independent networks, enabling seamless transactions among financial institutions without the necessity for them all to be on the same network.
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To conclude, MAS notes that it is delighted to welcome the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the policymaker group of Project Guardian. This group currently includes policymakers from Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and the UK. The IMF’s role will be to „provide an international perspective on the policies and legal issues that would facilitate cooperation around cross-border platforms and preserve the stability of the international monetary system.“